VAULT EXTRA 3rd June 2021
LOUISE BONNET: VAGABOND
Louise Bonnet’s third solo show with Nino Mier Gallery in Los Angeles currently showcases seven oil paintings created by the artist in quarantine. For Bonnet the conditions of familial proximity and an invigorating solitude produced by the pandemic-induced lockdown gave her space for creative introspection and development.
The main inspiration for this new body of works was Agnes Varda’s iconic film Vagabond (1985). As in the movie, which follows the journeys of a young, enigmatic drifter named Mona, Bonnet follows the movements and actions of her abstracted and fleshy figures without revealing their motivations and emotions. The distinct helmet of blonde hair that has become synonymous with Bonnet’s figures anonymises them and guards them from the viewer’s gaze. Bonnet’s paintings address the tensions between a woman’s desire to be alone with her thoughts and a world that demands she be open and accessible.
Vagabond by Louise Bonnet will be on show at Nino Mier Gallery in West Hollywood until June 19, 2021
Image credit:Installation view Louise Bonnet, Vagabond, 2021 at Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles (May 15 - June 19, 2021). Courtesy of Nino Mier Gallery and artist
COOEE ART ANNOUNCES GAME CHANGING AUCTIONS FOR CONTEMPORARY AND INDIGENOUS ART
Cooee Art has recently announced two significant auctions for Indigenous and Contemporary Modern Fine Art intended to expand the secondary art market for many exceptional artists. The first auction for Indigenous Fine Art will be held on Tuesday the 8th of June, 2020. The auction includes a variety of highly influential Indigenous artists, such as Albert Namatjira and George Millpurrurru. The auction will also showcase a collection of seven paintings by Emily Kame Kngwarreye and a rare batik work created before she began to paint.
The second auction of Contemporary Fine Art will be held on Thursday the 24th of June. Directed by Contemporary Fine Art Specialist, Litsa Wilkinson, the auction aims to establish an unparalleled secondary market for these works by setting new benchmarks for pricing and contributing to the documentation of artists and their work. The auctions will include works by contemporary artists such as Reko Rennie, Patricia Piccinini and Dale Frank, and Modern artists such as Sidney Nolan, Robert Kippel and Charles Blackman.
Viewings for both auctions are currently available online.
cooeeart.com.au/auctions-intro/
Image credit:Reko Rennie, No Sleep Till Dreamtime #5, 2014, synthetic polymer, glitter and binder on board, 70 x 70 cm. Courtesy Cooee Art
NAVA CURRICULUM CONSULTATION CALLOUT
NAVA will be hosting an open consultation via Zoom on the changes to the Australian Curriculum. The Australian Curriculum for children in kindergarten to year 12 is currently under review, and NAVA is calling on the public to help to ensure that arts education is a priority in this review.
NAVA asserts the importance for visual artists, arts workers, teachers and educators to provide feedback to ensure this review builds on the strengths of the existing curriculum. The open consultation is a chance to help improve the accessibility of art for classroom teachers as well as enhance engagement and knowledge of the visual arts for students.
Join NAVA for the Curriculum Consultation Callout on Thursday June 17, 2021 at 4pm AEST to find out more information and to have your say on these changes.
Image credit:Chenise Cameron, Untitled, 2020. Ngarluma Country (Roebourne), WA. Image courtesy NAVA
SCUM SUITE AT HUGO MICHELL GALLERY
Tony Garifalakis has been grappling with confronting combinations of the beautifully traditional and the bold or profane for more than two decades. The artist’s current exhibition, Scum Suite on display at Hugo Michell Galley continues to captivate and challenge audiences.
Garifalakis’ latest works explore the way images and words interact with each other, and how pairing one component with the other can completely manipulate one’s interpretation of signs, symbols and words. The artist questions the visual language associated with social, political, artistic and religious values, subverting them through a juxtaposition of images and text that disrupt existing connotations and meanings. In Double Scum #1 a drawing of a majestic unicorn is paired with the text ‘scum of the earth’ that floats in bold, sci-fi lettering above the mythical creature. Here, a symbol many associate with fantasy, childhood and joy has been assigned a degrading and seemingly unfitting label – perhaps positing that this mythical creature is ‘scum’. The clear juxtaposition mitigates a literal reading, instead the work asks the viewer to confront how we engage with language – both written and visual.
Scum Suite continues at Hugo Michell Gallery until June 19, 2021.
Exhibition report by Serena Cowie
Image credit:Tony Garifalakis, Double Scum #1 [Diptych], 2017-21, C type print, 59.4 x 42 cm each. Courtesy Hugo Michell Gallery
PARTY IN PIHA
Te Uru Gallery is currently showing Party in Piha, a selection of photographsby 97-year-old Titirangi photographer Arne Loot, in conjunction with the 2021 Auckland Festival of Photography. The exhibition documents the legendary full-moon beach parties that took place in the remote coastal settlement of Piha in the 1960s. It was where the glitterati of the day came to play – models, musicians and local surfers alike all dancing through the night. Loot was invited to capture these moments, unobtrusively weaving through the joyous myriad of party goers with camera in hand. What he created were striking portraits that immortalised this glamours and carefree moment in Auckland’s history.
The exhibition celebrates the rich social history of West Auckland and provide a rare snapshot into the extensive oeuvre Loot developed throughout his career – much of which has never been seen and cannot be viewed online. Accompanying the exhibition are a range of exciting events and talks centred around the history of Auckland and the rich creative culture that flourishes there.
Aren Loot: Party in Piha continues at Te Uru until September 12, 2021.
Image credit:Arne Loot. Courtesy Te Uru
FREUD AND BOURGEOIS
Freud’s Daughter at the Jewish Museum, New York, explores Louise Bourgeois’ art and writings through the lens of her nuanced relationship with Freudian psychoanalysis. Traversing the artist’s complex and ambivalent reading of the renowned psychiatrist’s work, the exhibition includes a discerning selection of Bourgeois’ original psychoanalytic writings –many of them presented to the public for the first time – alongside approximately 40 complete works from throughout her career.
The exhibition continues until September 12, 2021.
Image credit:Louise Bourgeois, The Destruction of the Father, 1974, latex, plaster, wood, fabric, and red light. © The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, Photo: Ron Amstutz.
GROUNDSWELL DAY
Groundswell was launched in 2020 as Australia’s first giving circle created to promote climate action and have raised $450,000 in funds. This money has empowered many high-impact climate advocacy groups to support climate solutions across a variety of regions in Australia. The organisation aims to get active and not anxious about the climate emergency, believing that change can be made. Professor Tim Flannery has said that “Groundswell has to succeed, as we’re getting close to the last chance, we’ll ever have to stabilise the climate of our planet.”
On the June 5 2021, Groundswell will be conducting a fundraising drive for World Environment Day. They aim to raise $1 million to fund climate action in Australia. 100% of donations will go directly to climate action grants, which they offer quarterly each year, as well as continuing to power climate activist groups and researchers.
Image credit: Tamara Dean, Endangered 3, 2018 from Endangered series 133 x 200 cm. Courtesy of Tamara Dean and Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin
